This is part two of the drop shadow tutorials. Make sure you understand the basics first (find that tutorial here). Today's tutorial will be about warping shadows. Sometimes I get jealous of real Photoshop users because they can do so much more with shadows, like warp them. When you look at shadows in real life, the shadow usually doesn't follow the edge evenly on all sides. But that is the only option you have on PSE, even after altering. That is okay on most things, but sometimes you need to do more with things like strings that don't lay perfectly flat. To illustrate what I mean, look at my examples below (click to enlarge if you need to). Look at the blue string. With the regular shadow it looks flat. That's fine, but then look at the warped shadow. More realistic right?

regular shadow

warped shadow

I was going to do my own tutorial, but then I found this excellent one online. Why reinvent the wheel?

Drop shadows are key to taking a layout from looking computer-generated to looking like you made it with actual paper supplies. They add depth and realism. In order to achieve that realistic look, you have to venture out of the default drop shadow setting. I promise it is easy. (side note: I use Photoshop Elements, but in Photoshop CS you can do more things with shadows to make them look realistic like warp them and choose the blend mode. Sadly I cannot, so this tutorial will not include changing those settings) [. . .]

no shadows

This has no shadows (except for the "tickles" whose shadow was saved permanently, oops). See how flat it looks?

default shadows

With default shadows, everything seems to be 'floating' on top of each other instead of layered. Open this up larger to really see the difference between this and altered shadows.

altered shadows

This looks a little more realistic. The photos and papers look like they are 'resting' on top of the other layers rather than 'floating' in space.